Obstacles can simulate a series of real-life challenges. Examples include a fire jump, climbing under barbed wire, wall climbing, mud crawling, spear throw, rope climb, heavy object carries, monkey bars, Traversal Wall (similar to a bouldering wall), Hobie Hop, Slippery Wall (a wall built at an incline, roughly covered in grease), a zig-zag log jump, steep mud climbs, Atlas carries, Salmon Ladder, Warped Wall, tire flips, stump balances, and rope swings.
Obstacle “problem” structures include another type of training disciplines. One example that uses obstacle structures to promote physical fitness, coordination, and balance is Parkour. Parkour uses movement that is inspired by military obstacle course training. Practitioners aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Parkour includes running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, rolling, quadrupedal movement, and other movements as deemed most suitable for the situation.
Another unique activity is ice climbing. Usually, ice climbing refers to roped and protected climbing of features such as icefalls, frozen waterfalls, and cliffs and rock slabs covered with ice refrozen from flows of water. For the purposes of climbing, ice can be broadly divided into two spheres, alpine ice and water ice. Alpine ice is found in a mountain environment, usually requires an approach to reach, and is often climbed in an attempt to summit a mountain. Water ice is usually found on a cliff or other outcropping beneath water flows. Alpine ice is frozen precipitation whereas water ice is a frozen liquid flow of water. Ice climbing is a particularly difficult sport for fitness and training because it typically includes ice formations which are particularly difficult to replicate year round and in a variety of climates.
An ice axe, for example, is a multi-purpose hiking and climbing tool used by mountaineers both in the ascent and descent of routes that involve frozen conditions with snow and/or ice. An ice axe can be held and employed in a number of different ways, depending on the terrain encountered. In its simplest role, the ice axe is used like a walking stick in the uphill hand, the mountaineer holding the head in the center, with the pick pointing to the rear. It can also be buried pick down, the rope tied around the shaft form a secure anchor on which to bring up a second climber, or buried vertically to form a stomp belay. The adze is used to cut footsteps (sometimes known as pigeon holes), as well as scoop seats in the hillside and trenches to bury an ice axe belay.
FIG. 1 illustrates a traditional mountaineering ice axe 100. The ice axe 100 includes a head 102, pick 101, adze 103, leash 104, leash stop 105, shaft 106, and spike 107. The head 102 is usually made of steel and features the pick 101 and adze 103. The pick 101 is a toothed pointed end of the head 102, typically slightly curved (aiding both in ergonomics and self-arrest). The adze 103 is a flat, wide end of the head 102 used for chopping steps in hard snow and ice. The shaft 106 of the traditional ice axe 100 can be straight or slightly angled, typically wider front-to-back than side-to-side, flat on the sides and smoothly rounded on the ends. Traditional shafts 106 were made of wood, but are now almost exclusively of lightweight metals (such as aluminum, titanium and steel alloys) or composites (including fiberglass, Kevlar or carbon filament). The spike 107 can include a steel point at the base of the shaft used for balance and safety when the axe 100 is held by its head in walking stick fashion.
A climbing wall is an artificially constructed structure with grips for hands and feet, usually used for indoor climbing, but sometimes located outdoors. Some are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material most often used is a thick multiplex board with holes drilled into it. The wall may have places to attach belay ropes, but may also be used to practice lead climbing or bouldering.
The walls at indoor climbing gyms are usually built from prefabricated fake-rock panels or textured plywood sheets that have regularly spaced holes and are attached to a metal or wood framework inside the gym. The walls are attached to the building's structure at both the base and the top so that they are stable and don't move or flex. While most gym walls are vertical, some walls have horizontal overhangs or sections that are other than 90° from the floor. Indoor climbing walls range in height from 10 to 50 feet.
Each hole contains a specially formed t-nut to allow modular climbing holds to be screwed onto the wall. The face of the multiplex board climbing surface is covered with textured products including concrete and paint or polyurethane loaded with sand. The wall obstacle may contain angles and surface structures such as indentions (incuts) and protrusions (bulges), or take the form of an overhang, underhang, or crack. Some grips are formed to mimic the conditions of outdoor rock, including some that are oversized and can have other grips bolted onto them.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,149,684 discloses a climbing tool operative for climbing an artificial climbing wall. The tool has a strap replacing the axe portion used in outdoor climbing, where the strap engages a climbing wall hold. The tool has a grip attached to an angled shaft. The grip has a grasping portion for a hand that includes a pinky rest and a finger rest. Because the climbing tool does not have any sharp points or edges, it does not damage an artificial climbing wall.
However, because the tool uses a flexible strap to simulate the use of a traditionally rigid climbing tool, among other dissimilarities, the '684 patent's exhibits many limitations. The leather or rubber strap is overly stable whereas various embodiments discussed below more accurately mimic tool placement, tool pressure, and body positioning in ice climbing or dry tooling embodiment. Further, the leather loop device from the '684 trains only the hand grip whereas various embodiments discussed below can train both the hand grip, define accurate tool placement, replicate tool pressure to a wall, as well as improvements to body positioning during use. And, because the tool is also limited by the designs of the hold itself which do not accurately relate to the interconnection of a traditional tool with ice or rock, the climbing tool of the '684 patent is also further limited by the hold to which the tool's flexible band connection can be made.